Habit strength moderates the strength of within-person relations between weekly self-reported and objectively-assessed physical activity

ObjectivesPhysical activity (PA) habit strength influences how people control their PA and may also influence how people encode, store, or recall their PA. This study evaluated whether individual differences in PA habit strength moderated the magnitude of within-person associations between weekly self-reported PA and step counts.DesignLongitudinal.MethodAfter an initial assessment of PA habit strength, university students wore pedometers for four weeks and completed four self-reports of weekly mild, moderate, and strenuous PA.ResultsOn average, people's weekly step counts and self-reported PA across time were weakly-to-moderately associated, but there was substantial variability in the magnitude of these associations across people. People with strong PA habits had weaker within-person associations between deviations from their average self-reported PA and step counts than those with weak PA habits.ConclusionsThese results may indicate that PA habit strength influences the sensitivity of self-report PA measures to change in objectively-measured PA.

► Moderate relation between self-reported physical activity and step counts. ► Individual variability in relation of self-reported physical activity and step counts. ► Habit strength impacts relation of self-reported physical activity and step count.